Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIS'TANT, a. [L. distans, standing apart.]

1. Separate; having an intervening space of any indefinite extent. One point may be less than a line or a hair's breadth distant from another. Saturn is supposed to be nearly nine hundred million miles distant from the sun.
2. Remote in place; as, a distant object appears under a small angle.
3. Remote in time, past or future; as, a distant age or period of the world.
4. Remote in the line of succession or descent, indefinitely; as, a distant descendant; a distant ancestor; distant posterity.
5. Remote in natural connection or consanguinity; as, a distant relation; distant kindred; a distant collateral line.
6. Remote in nature; not allied; not agreeing with or in conformity to; as, practice very distant from principles or profession.
7. Remote in view; slight; faint; not very likely to be realized; as, we have a distant hope or prospect of seeing better times.
8. Remote in connection; slight; faint; indirect; not easily seen or understood; as, a distant hint or allusion to a person or subject. So also we say, a distant idea; a distant thought; a distant resemblance.
9. Reserved; shy; implying haughtiness, coldness of affection, indifference, or disrespect; as, the manners of a person are distant.